Coalition puts economy at election heart

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has declared he will focus on economic management to win power, as Labor blamed his coalition colleagues in Queensland for forcing up national jobless figures.

Returning from annual leave, including a stint as volunteer firefighter in southern NSW, Mr Abbott declared the 2013 election would come down to the economy.

Mr Abbott said Australia was experiencing "economic weakness" because of poor budget management.

"If government lives within its means, if taxes are lower, if productivity is higher and if we deepen our engagement with Asia, we will have the strong economic growth that we need in order to give Australians the kind of life that they're entitled to expect," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday the jobless rate was at 5.4 per cent in December, up 0.1 percentage points from an upwardly revised 5.3 per cent in November.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who toured fire-hit Coonabarabran in central-west NSW on Thursday, said the economy was performing well in comparison with other countries.

But she pointed to pressures on industry, such as the strong Australian dollar.

"In our real economy we have continued to create jobs, and we have an economy that is more than 10 per cent bigger than when the government came to office," Ms Gillard later told ABC Radio.

Acting employment minister Kate Ellis pointed the finger at the Queensland Liberal National Party government, which has slashed the public service to get the state budget back into the black.

"Regrettably more than 22,000 Queenslanders found themselves out of a job this Christmas," Ms Ellis told reporters in Adelaide.

"Across the rest of the country jobs grew, and were it not for the Queensland job losses the unemployment rate today would have actually fallen to 5.2 per cent rather than slightly rising."

She said the Queensland example showed what a federal coalition government would deliver.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said Western Australia, which has a coalition government, had the lowest rate of unemployment, while Tasmania, held by Labor, posted an unemployment rate of more than seven per cent.

"Quite frankly, the only thing that's going to get confidence back is a change of government," Mr Hockey said.

The former government minister has lost 20kg through gastric bypass surgery and a new exercise regime that he described as "shaping up for the treasurer's job".

Ms Ellis said the coalition was intent on talking down the economy and seemed "allergic to good news", such as better economic signs coming out of China.

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